BOISE, Idaho — Monday Special…January 8, 2024.
So much happened the past few days—where do we begin? I guess that would be with a commitment from the highest-rated recruit in Boise State history Saturday night, transfer quarterback Malachi Nelson from USC. It all happened so fast—word of Nelson’s campus visit just came out on Thursday. Then Sunday morning, the Broncos got a commit from Indiana transfer Cam Camper, a wide receiver. And Sunday afternoon came another, this one from defensive end Tavion Woodward of Ball State. All that on the heels of Thursday night’s announcement from Cal cornerback Jeremiah Earby. And just like that, the narrative around Boise State’s 2024 season changed. While the news could hardly be better, it’s best that Bronco Nation not get ahead of itself.
MALACHI NELSON
Well, Nelson is now a Bronco. Among Nelson's 25 offers coming out of high school (not counting Oklahoma, where he originally committed, and USC, where he signed) were Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Oregon and Michigan. But more important is the present—who else was after him in the transfer portal? This from 247 Sports: "He heard from some of the bigger brands across the country, including Alabama, Miami and Texas A&M to name a few, but Boise State was the one who immediately jumped to the forefront." The tweet of the weekend came from All-Mountain West punter James Ferguson-Reynolds, who tagged Nelson on this one: “Welcome mate, just remember me when and if you get to 3rd down and want a break.”
CAM CAMPER
In 15 games at Indiana over two seasons, Camper had 63 catches for 854 yards and three touchdowns. His 2022 season was cut short by a torn ACL, and this past fall he missed the final four games following a cleanup procedure related to the ACL. So it’ll be interesting to see whether Camper participates in spring football. What stands out off the top is his size—he’s 6-2, 195 pounds, and joins a wide receivers room that already includes 6-5 Prince Strachan and 6-3 Austin Bolt. And Latrell Caples, Boise State’s leading receiver in 2022, is no slouch at 6-1. (Camper is from Lancaster, TX, Caples’ hometown.)
TAVION WOODARD
There had been rumors that new Boise State safeties coach and co-defensive coordinator Tyler Stockton was going to bring a pass rusher with him from Ball State. That materialized in the form of Woodard, a 6-4, 265-pound defensive end. In 41 games over four seasons with the Cardinals, Woodard logged 80 tackles and 10.5 sacks. With Demitri Washington gone (he missed the last eight games of this past season anyway), Woodard’s addition is a key one. The Broncos will be able to pair him with All-Mountain West defensive end Ahmed Hassanein.
JEREMIAH EARBY
Earby comes from Cal, where he played under former Boise State defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox. If we don’t know much about him, well, we may be in the minority. Just after entering the portal, Earby told 247 Sports: "I've heard from Boise State, Nevada, Virginia, TCU, Baylor, Oregon State, Michigan State, UNLV, UAB, Stanford and UCLA." And Michigan State was reportedly the early favorite. Earby played two seasons for the Bears, making 62 tackles, two interceptions, 17 pass deflections and two fumble recoveries (including a scoop-and-score against Oregon State in 2022). At 6-2, he brings size and skill to a secondary that needs more of it.
AND THEN THERE’S JONAH DALMAS
Squeezed into all the breaking news was a piece of it from Jonah Dalmas, who announced Friday he is returning for a fifth season at Boise State. The Rocky Mountain product is already the Broncos’ single-season and career record-holder in field goals. Dalmas has booted 80 the past four years and needs 18 next season to break the NCAA career record of 97 held by North Carolina State’s Christopher Dunn. Some may want an asterisk on that because Dalmas will have had five seasons, but remember that he was shortchanged during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, when Boise State played only seven games.
BRONCOS WILL TAKE THE ‘W’
Any road win in the Mountain West has to be cherished, and the way Boise State played down the stretch in Friday night’s 78-69 win at San Jose State was impressive. But a loss to the Spartans would have been damaging. The Broncos seemed to be lulled to sleep again by the generally dead atmosphere in the Events Center, where only 2,287 fans were reported to have attended. Turnovers and one hot Spartan shooter had Boise State down by seven at halftime. The Broncos had lost the lead three minutes into the game and didn’t get it back until there were less than four minutes remaining. But O’Mar Stanley was other-worldly with a 30-11 double-double, and Tyson Degenhart scored 17 points in the second half.
IT ONLY GETS TOUGHER
Now it’s the first of a smorgasbord of big games this winter in ExtraMile Arena as Colorado State comes to town Tuesday night. The Rams went into the weekend ranked No. 13 in the AP Poll, but they lost at Utah State 77-72 Saturday night (no shame in that, as it turns out). A sidebar to this one: Weber State handed Oral Roberts an 83-78 home loss Saturday. That means Boise State's 21-game home winning streak is currently the longest in the country. If the Broncos are able to extend it to 22 against CSU? That would be fairly incredible.
DEALING WITH THE WARTS
The Broncos have some wagons to circle to get it done. The party line on this season’s team was that it was going to be far deeper than last year’s edition. That looked possible early, when coach Leon Rice was rotating up to 10 players. But Rice played only eight guys at San Jose State, two of them sparingly—and incredibly, only four players even scored. As good as O’Mar Stanley has been in the post, Boise State has a huge hole at point guard, where Marcus Shaver Jr. used to rule. Roddie Anderson III has not found his way yet, and Jace Whiting hasn’t filled the gap. With Rams superstar Isaiah Stevens coming in, that is a huge concern. But there’s more than one way to shine a penny, and the Broncos are bent on finding a way.
THIS DAY IN SPORTS…January 8, 2009, 15 years ago today:
Tim Tebow does something he could never do later in the NFL—he outduels a fellow Heisman Trophy winner in a title game. Tebow led Florida to a 24-14 victory over Sam Bradford and Oklahoma in the BCS National Championship Game in Miami. Tebow was 18-of-30 for 231 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for an additional 109 yards. Bradford finished 26-of-41 for 256 yards and two TDs. Each quarterback threw two interceptions. It was the Gators’ second national title in their fourth season under coach Urban Meyer.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra and anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK. He also served as color commentator on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football for 14 seasons.)
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